Green Climate Future sacrificed to today’s Red Ink

That was the message today from the state’s environmental community, which is beyond angry over Gov. David Paterson’s raid on funds from the nation’s first-ever plan to combat climate by encouraging alternative energy and conservation.

Today, the governor said he intends to take $90 million raised through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state program that charges power plants for emissions of carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas that an international scientific consensus says is causing climate change.

None of the other RGGI states, which all face budget problems of their own, have taken money from the fund. That’s because the other state legislatures had voted to make RGGI a legally binding program, a step never taken by the New York State Legislature.

Paterson’s office said he had to take from RGGI _ and everything else _ because the state’s fiscal picture is so bleak. That $90 million hit represents about 40 percent of the total annual RGGI account. That’s a lot higher than the 4.5 percent cut in school aid and 10 percent cut in local assistance spending.

A spokesman for the state Budget Office said even though the Legislature did not vote to create RGGI and specify how its funds were to be used, the governor’s effort to take RGGI funds for the overall budget still must gain legislative approval.

Environmental groups that fought hard to get RGGI _ and stood two days ago with the governor when he signed the Green Jobs Act _ feel betrayed.

A strongly-worded press release calls on Paterson “not to steal” from the program.

“This is no time to steal funds from programs that will save people money on their heating and electricity bills,” said Abigail Dillen, staff attorney for Earthjustice.

Jamie Van Nostrand, Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, said Paterson was guilty of a “betrayal of the fundamental premise upon which RGGI is based _ applying the proceeds from selling carbon allowances to programs that will reduce the impact of climate change in the future.”

So far this year, the state has about $155 million in its RGGI account, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority was preparing a plan on how to spend it.

None of the money had been spent yet because of a lawsuit filed against RGGI by a power plant owner in Corinth, Saratoga County. NYSERDA had held back spending RGGI because it feared it might have to return the money if the lawsuit was successful.

So the big fat pile of RGGI cash grew and grew, making it an attractive target.

And what do the power plants think about the governor’s decision to divert the money they have paid for CO2 emissions? Too soon to tell…